WSOP Scraps November Nine And Extends Live Coverage

November Nine to July Nine?

In a seismic shift, the WSOP scrapped the November Nine format. Instead, it was announced that the WSOP Main Event champion will be decided in July.

In the existing format, which incidentally ran for nine years, the Main Event was paused after the final table was determined. The nine players who made it to the final table, waited until November to resume play. This was done to allow ESPN’s (who owned the coverage rights to the WSOP) coverage to catch up. It also gave fans a chance to get to know the final nine players better.

Live Coverage

However, with Poker Central having acquired the WSOP’s TV and Media rights, the November Nine has now been removed and the final table will be played in July. Under the new four year deal, Poker Central and ESPN will also partner for an estimated 40 hours of live coverage. Poker purists, who’ve been calling for the change, are expected to be thrilled. In other good news, the amount of live coverage, which will be with a 30-minute delay, is to be significantly increased.

A statement by Poker Central said, “Poker Central is excited to announce the acquisition of the global television and digital media rights to the World Series of Poker. An agreement has also been reached with ESPN to bring – for the first time – same day live coverage of the World Series of Poker from Day 1 of the Main Event until the winner is crowned.”

The statement also paid homage to ESPN.

“ESPN has been our home since 2002, and we’re delighted to extend the relationship,” said Ty Stewart, executive director, WSOP. “Having every day live coverage of the WSOP Main Event is truly a huge commitment on behalf of ESPN and Poker Central, and we look forward to delivering to our faithful audience wall-to-wall action from the outset for the very first time.”

New Schedule

As per the new schedule for 2017, the final nine will play down to the winner from July 20th to 22nd. With many of India’s top pros stated to participate, the WSOP 2017 will surely be one to remember. PokerShots will bring you regular coverage for the events.